By Martin Graham
Manchester United are entering a rare spell without a Saturday outing, with the club set to complete 10 straight league matches away from the traditional weekend slot. After the November international break, none of their games before the FA Cup third-round weekend of 10–11 January fall on a Saturday.
Across this period, the team will feature three times on a Monday evening, appear three times on a Sunday, take part in three midweek rounds, and once compete on a Friday night. Several of these fixtures also involve unusually early starts, including a midday contest at Crystal Palace near the end of November and a 12:30 meeting at Leeds to begin the new calendar year.
The last time United kicked off on a Saturday was their 2–2 draw with Tottenham on 8 November. Their next Saturday appointment, scheduled for 17 January against Manchester City, may still shift depending on broadcast selections for that weekend.
A mix of broadcast decisions and competition regulations explains the long run without a Saturday match. All three Monday games were selected specifically for that slot by broadcasters. Meanwhile, planned Saturday picks for Crystal Palace and Leeds were moved because of their commitments earlier in the week: Palace host Strasbourg in the Conference League three days beforehand, and Leeds play in the league on the preceding Thursday. The Premier League avoids scheduling a match if it forces a team to play again within 60 hours.
Home encounters with West Ham and Wolves and the journey to Burnley fall inside designated midweek rounds. The Boxing Day fixture against Newcastle has its own broadcast window, while the pre-Christmas trip to Aston Villa is assigned to the regular Sunday 16:30 broadcast slot.
How broadcast allocations are chosen
The current domestic TV agreement contains five packages, with Sky Sports owning four. TNT Sports controls the Saturday 12:30 slot but does not hold any first-choice selections. Sky has all top picks, covering Saturday at 17:30 and Sunday at 16:30.
European competition heavily shapes which matches broadcasters can choose. Clubs playing in the Europa League or Conference League on Thursday — including Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, and Nottingham Forest — cannot be scheduled for Saturday games. Teams travelling in the Champions League on a Wednesday can be placed in TNT’s Saturday evening selection.
Even with these restrictions, broadcasters sometimes adjust. TNT initially picked Crystal Palace v Manchester United for a Saturday date, but because Palace cannot play that day, it moved to a Sunday noon kick-off. Sky’s selection of Tottenham v Fulham was originally a Friday or Monday candidate, but Tottenham’s Champions League match on Wednesday 26 November and a league game the following Tuesday pushed it to a Saturday night slot.
Because United are not involved in Europe, they are more available for Monday fixtures. However, the league imposes limits: in the Saturday slots (12:30 and 17:30), each club must appear at least once and no team can exceed six appearances. Other slots have a maximum of five selections. United have already been chosen three times for Monday nights, leaving room for only two further picks.
How United are responding to the congestion
The club has acknowledged that it agreed to an increase in Monday and Friday matches as part of the new broadcasting cycle. At the same time, United have underlined the strain this places on supporters who travel, noting the challenge of repeatedly hosting or visiting grounds outside normal weekend hours.
United informed their Fans Forum of their stance and confirmed that chief executive Omar Berrada had held discussions with Premier League chief executive Richard Masters to express their concerns. They highlighted that during the 12-week stretch from 5 October to 25 December, they host just one weekend fixture at Old Trafford and must travel to Palace for a Sunday noon start and to Wolves for a Monday 20:00 kick-off.
While the club accepts the financial value of primetime broadcasting slots, it emphasises that live television appeal is rooted in the distinctive atmosphere created by matchgoing supporters, which should remain central when fixture lists are decided.
